Media refused to pay $200,000 for Bruce Wilson’s slush fund story

A fee of $200,000 was tossed around when
Julia Gillard
’s ex-boyfriend and accused fraudster,
Bruce Wilson
, was encouraged to give a tell-all interview in 2012. But media outlets weren’t interested, celebrity agent Max Markson said. “Nobody wants to pay big money for political stories," he said.

Mr Markson confirmed he was at a meeting in Nelson Bay, Sydney, with Mr Wilson and Melbourne lawyer Harry Nowicki when a figure of $200,000 was raised. But it was not put forward as a financial inducement to encourage Mr Wilson to change his story, as he claimed last week.

“At the time Bruce Wilson was doing it tough," Mr Markson said. “He was working in this cafe in Nelson’s Bay. He had a new wife, new baby. [Nowicki] said, I reckon if we got $200,000 for him he’d do the story."

Mr Nowicki, who has said he is writing a book about the Australian Workers Union slush fund scandal that has dogged Mr Wilson and Ms Gillard for nearly 20 years, has denied offering an inducement.

Mr Markson said he took the offer to magazines and television stations but they showed no interest. This was possibly because the issue was too hot while Ms Gillard was prime minister, he said. “Believe me I tried because there’s $40,000 in it for me," he said.

“To me the story was the relationship between Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson. But there aren’t even any photos of them together."

Extracts of an affidavit prepared by Mr Wilson for the royal commission into union governance and corruption were given to the ABC. Mr Wilson claimed he was offered money to change his story in a way that would incriminate Ms Gillard.

The pertinent paragraphs were excluded from Mr Wilson’s testimony during hearings of the royal commission in Sydney last week.